Plate 11: Someone stole a thousand franc note from me, Monsieur..., from 'Caricaturana,' published in Les Robert Macaires

Plate 11: Someone stole a thousand franc note from me, Monsieur..., from 'Caricaturana,' published in Les Robert Macaires

Honoré Daumier

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

- Someone stole a thousand franc note from me, Monsieur. - Very well! I have your case in hand, Madame. The thief is one of my friends. - Then I would like to have my money back and know who took it. - Nothing easier than that. Let me have 1'500F for my trouble and tomorrow the thief will return your money and give you his card.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Plate 11: Someone stole a thousand franc note from me, Monsieur..., from 'Caricaturana,' published in Les Robert MacairesPlate 11: Someone stole a thousand franc note from me, Monsieur..., from 'Caricaturana,' published in Les Robert MacairesPlate 11: Someone stole a thousand franc note from me, Monsieur..., from 'Caricaturana,' published in Les Robert MacairesPlate 11: Someone stole a thousand franc note from me, Monsieur..., from 'Caricaturana,' published in Les Robert MacairesPlate 11: Someone stole a thousand franc note from me, Monsieur..., from 'Caricaturana,' published in Les Robert Macaires

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.